If an ankle injury hadn’t robbed him of the final 22 regular season games plus the playoffs and he had kept up his previous pace, would his 2013-14 campaign been the most complete season ever for a Vancouver Giants’ defenceman?

We’re talking offence, defence, toughness, leadership.

Interesting concept.

Thrower, who was both power-play quarterback and shutdown guy in his one season with the Giants, finished with 39 points, including 12 goals, in 42 games. He has also 70 penalty minutes. At that clip, the former Saskatoon Blades blueliner and Squamish native would have had 59 points and 107 penalty minutes if he didn’t miss the last month and a half of the regular season.

(Here’s a good gauge of what Thrower meant to the team: Vancouver was 21-14-4-3 with Thrower in the lineup, but, including playoffs, 11-19-3-1 with him in the press box.)

Kevin Connauton had 72 points, including 24 goals, in 69 games in 2009-10, but he wasn’t as solid defensively as Thrower when he was a Giant. Connauton also had 107 minutes in penalties that year, although there’s an argument that, as a guy coming over from the NCAA, he had a lot of willing fight partners, wanting to challenge how tough he was. (Let the record show he was tough and then some.)

Jon Blum put up 66 points, including 16 goals, in 51 games in 2008-09, his best statistical campaign in four years with Vancouver. He wasn’t as physical as Thrower. The same goes for Cody Franson, who had 55 points, with 15 coming on goals, in 71 games in 2005-06, his top year numbers wise as a Giant.

Mark Fistric brought the defence and the toughness and the leadership in his four years. Like both Thrower and Blum, he was a team captain. His best numbers season, though, was 29 points, including seven goals, in 60 games in 2005-06.

The most interesting comparable to Thrower may be Andrej Meszaros, who had 41 points, including 11 goals, and 94 penalty minutes in 59 games in his one season with Vancouver in 2004-05.

Like Thrower, we can only surmise what he would have done in a full season.

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